I ♥ Our Tailgate Themes

and unlike Coach T, I ♥ evening kick-offs. Thank you Yom Kippur!

Late games = later tailgates. Which means I can sleep in later on Saturday mornings, I can take my time packing up the ice chest and whatever dish I'm contributing, and then at the dome I'm not racing to set up our tent and tablescaping - all of which result in less arguments with Coach Hullabaloo. That right there ALONE needs to be factored in when the making of the Tulane Footbal schedule is happening. A marriage saving football schedule, how perfect would that be?

So our Hullabaloo Huddle Syracuse v. Tulane Tailgate theme was Oktoberfest and it was honestly the best one so far (oh yes. prior to being held hostage in exchange for a ransoms-worth of timeouts, we tailgated).

PreacherMan brought Polka music - lmao. I just ♥ PreacherMan's sense of humor and his opennes for taking tailgating themes to heart! We have such a great tailgating group.

Circe went to town with the menu: Brats, amazing German Tater Salad and then she surprised Coach and I with some homemade peach jam to bring home that was awesome. Circe keeps a blog and posted the recipe here, and trust me it was delish.


I just totally was afflutter with the German condiments. So cute right?


However, probably THE cutest thing is #17 Alex Lauricella's Family.

The Lauricella clan have the cutest little mr. bo-bo's in the family that they ride around in this little wagon before the Tulane Marching Band comes through.



....and they had throws too!


How a-dorable are these?

So to decorate for our tailgating, I actually picked up these glass steins from the bookstore. I had seen them during an earlier shopping trip with Circe and once I see something that I know is "perfect" I cannot shake it from my mind no matter the cost.


I'm almost embarrassed to admit they were a zillion dollars a piece. So much so that Coach threated to return them and explain that his wife had lost her mind. (lmao! I am sooo sure!)

In addition to our money-is-no-object-themed tablescaping, I contributed some red cabbage and apple slaw (recipe below) and Pricilla made this a-mazing German Chocolate Cake that was ver gut!

I honestly think all this heaven sent food was kismet, because our next door neighbors for tailgating happened to be Momma and Daddy Rush whom we befriended immediately. They were the most gracious people ever and turned out that they are the parents of our new rockstar wide receiver Xavier Rush. (!)


O-M-G, where has he been all our life? I am serious about the OMG. Usher is my soundtrack when I think of or discuss Xavier Rush as wide receiver. Makes me want to throw up my hands and just dance like a fool, like a fool. I literally almost lost my voice screaming over his 3 td's. I was absolutely ke-vel-ling.

I know that you'll also be kevelling over our recipes for this week. Enjoy!

RED CABBAGE AND APPLE SLAW
2 tbsp red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon creole mustard
1/4 cup evoo
2 medium unpeeled Red Delicious or Fuji apples, sliced in super thin wedges.
some chopped green onions
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups coarsely shredded red cabbage
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup pecan halves, chopped
saltnpeppa, to taste

Whisk vinegars, honey and mustard in small bowl. Gradually mix in the olive oil so that while you mix, the erl emulsifies. Toss apples with lemon juice, and then add to shredded cabbage, green onions and dried cranberries. Add dressing and toss. SaltnPeppa to taste. Garnish with chopped pecans.

CIRCE'S GERMAN TATER SALAD
Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes, leave them skins on
some bacon
a medium chopped white onion
a few tablespoons of erl
Tabasco spicy brown mustard
apple cider vinegar
bunch a green onions, chopped
saltnpeppa, girl

Berl your taters whole in seasoned water til they are al dente. We don't want mashed taters here, but they shouldn't still be raw and hard in the middle now. After you're done cooking them, take them out and when the taters stop steamin, slice em up in rounds like doubloons so that they soak up the dressing real good. While the taters are boiling you can cook up your bacon (make sure you cook an extra piece for nibbling). Keep a couple tablespoons of the fat from your bacon cooking to sautee up your chopped onions.

While everything is cooling off, enjoy some of your coffee and then start making the dressing by whisking those wet ingredients together into a froth and then adding in the green onion, salt and pepper to taste. lovingly toss together with your bacon, taters and sauteed onions. And stand back cause people will bite your hand off if you are in the way of serving themselves extra helpings. Like Mrs. Hullabaloo was doing. I swear I almost O'D on this Tater Salad. I was totally ignorant and serving myself heaping mounds.

So this was too funny not to share.


What's the story with the kids chillaxing on the parking median? As evidenced by their sign, this group were overachiever tailgaters and I loved it loved it. Right before packing up to go, they led everybody in a round of Hullabaloo. It was excellent.

OK Next Up: UTEP and our menu for this week is Tex-Mex. Please sign up:

Fajitas
Fajita Fixings
OR Tortilla Soup?
Pricilla's Enchiladas (Priscilla's got this)
Spanish Rice (Circe's got this)
Tamales (Circe's got this)
Salsa
Mrs. Hullabaloo's Famous Guacamole and Chips (Mrs. Hullabaloo)
Cupcakes and Cookies (Mrs. Hullabaloo)
Jabaritos Soda (Mrs. Hullabaloo)
Hibiscus Tea (Circe)
Margaritas